Combined check sorting and photographing apparatus



's. GORAD EI'AL 2,393,462

SORTING AND PHOTOGRAPHING APPARATUS Filed July 20, 1940 3 Sheets-Sheet 1Jan. 22, 1946.

COMBINED CHECK A B C O E. F G H 14 IINVENTORS SAMl/fl 6024p PHILIPEJACOB$ Jan. 22, 1946. s, GORAD ETAL 2,393,462

COMBINED CHECK SORTING AND PHOTOGRAPHING APPARATUS Filed July 20, 1940 xsheets-knee; 2

INVENTORS 54mm 60010 Q PHIL /P E .ucoas A BY 3W ATTORNEY- U m n [P 1:1 un n m :1]

Jan. 22, 1946. s. GORAD ETAL 2,393,462

COMBINED CHECK SORTING AND PHOTOGRAPHING APPARATUS Filed July 20, 1940 3Sheets-Sheet 3 v INVENTORS SAMUEL GOP/1D PHIL/P FJACOES Patented Jan.22, 1946 COMBINED CHECK SORTING AND PHOTO- GRAPHING APPARATUS SamuelGorad and Philip F. Jacobo, New York, N. Y.

Application July 20, 1940, Serial No. 340,502

3 Claims.

a The present invention relates to a combined sorting and photographingapparatus for records such as checks, documents, manuscripts and thelike, in which the assorted records are moved into the field of thephotographing camera to make a photographic record thereof, and thendischarged from the apparatus in the relative arrangement into whichthey have been assorted.

Apparatus for photographing checks and the like has heretofore been usedby banks to make permanent photographic records of all the checks whichare handled by the bank. In commercial apparatus of this kind, only asingle check at one time has been photographed on the film used. Afterthe photographic record is made on the film, each check is dischargedfrom the apparatus and must then be assorted in different groups orlots, depending upon the use to which the checks will be put. Apparatusof this kind heretofore used, therefore, is comparatively costly in bothmaterials, labor and time.

The present invention contemplates the provision of an apparatus of thecharacter described in which the sorting and photographing occur in onecontinuous operation. Since these two steps of asserting andphotographing which, in the apparatus of the prior art, must beaccomplished separately, are combined in the apparatus herewithconcerned, there is a consequent speeding up of operations and,therefore, a greater volume of such records can be handled. Furthermore,

less people are required for the operation of such apparatus.

The present invention further contemplates the provision of such anapparatus in' which a great many documents can be handled at one timeand in which a large number of such documents are photographed at eachexposure on a single film with a consequent saving in the number ofexposures required and, therefore, with resulting economy in bothmaterials and labor.

The present invention further contemplates the provision of such anapparatus which is so arranged that the sorting and feeding operationscan be accomplished with comparative rapidity and convenience.Furthermore, the present invention contemplates the provision of such anapparatus which is flexible and can be adjusted to handle differentsizes of documents.

The present invention still further contemplates the provision of meansfor automatically feeding onto the apparatus, one at a time, insuccessive end to end arrangement and in selected assortment thedocuments to be photographed.

The present invention still further contemplates an apparatus of thecharacter described in which a plurality of documents are automaticallyand successively fed onto the apparatus, then successively andcontinuously moved into the held of the camera where a photographicrecord is made of the decuments then in the camera field, then thedocuments moved successively and continuously out of the field of thecamera and discharged from the apparatus into a receiving cabinet in thesame selected assorted relationship, all of these operations beingperformed in a continuous series of successive operations.

The present invention still further contemplates the combination of suchautomatic document-feeding means with our photographic apparatus in suchrelationship that the documents are fed in selected assortment onto theapparatus in face-up position and thus photographed, then the documentsdischarged from the apparatus into a second similar automaticdocument-feeding means which is associated with a second photographicapparatus, the second feeding means feeding the documents onto thesecond photographic apparatus in face-down position to thereby arrangethe reverse sides of I the documents in position to be photographed bythe second apparatus and the documents then discharged from the secondphotographic apparatus in assorted relationship, all the operationsbeing performed in a continuous series of suceessive operations.

It is to be understood, of course, that while we have described thisapparatus as being adapted to be employed with documents, it might alsobe employedwith other articles of which a permanent record is desired tobe made.

Other and further objects and advantages of the present invention willbecome apparent from the following description and the drawings relatingthereto, in which Fig. 1 is a plan view of an embodiment of the presentinvention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevational view of the apparatus illustrated in Fig.1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary view taken along the line H of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the means for operating thecamera shutter and filmadvancing mechanism.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged view of a negative film showing the appearance ofthe photographed documents.

Fig. 6 is a side elevational view of a modification of the presentinvention.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the relay and associatedmechanism for operating the endless belts of the modification shown inFig. 6.

Fig. 8 is a side elevational view of two of our photographic apparatusesassociated in series with one of our automatic document-feeding meansarranged at each entrance of an apparatus. the illustration of the firstapparatus being schematic and a fragmentary view of the second apparatusbeing shown.

Fig. 9 is a sectional view of our documentfeeding means arranged at theend of a photographic apparatus table, only a fragmentary end of thetable being shown.

Referring now to the embodiment of the present invention illustrated inFigs, 1 through 4, a substantially flat table i may be provided whichmay be arranged on suitable legs or supports l2, l3 and ii to disposethe table at a convenient height.

The legs or supports may be made of any desirable shape or material,those illustrated being made of pipe screwed into foot plates H whichlatter in turn may be secured to the floor by means of nails, bolts orany other suitable means.

In order to divide the table into a series of separate longitudinal rowsor lanes, a plurality of longitudinal slots iii are arranged in the topof the table. A number of upstanding rails H are provided each of whichis adapted to be arranged within a corresponding slot IS. The rails l8may be arranged in adjacent slots, in alternate slots or in spaced slotsto provide rows or racks, the widths of which may be selectivelyadjusted to accommodate different documents. A board may be arrangedtransversely across the table and be marked with indicia to indicate theclassification of the documents which are to be arranged in thecorresponding row or rack. The table ID serves as an assortin table andthe documents may be assorted and placed in each row or rack inaccordance with the indicia corresponding thereto. Thus, if thedocuments were, for example, checks, the rows or lanes would be arrangedto receive checks of that bank on which those checks are drawn and, inoperation, before the photographic record was made, the checks wouldaccordingly be put in the row or rack corresponding to the proper bank.

In order for the checks to be moved along the table into the field ofthe camera in their assorted arrangement, we provide a number of endlessbelts 22, the number of endless belts equalling the number of rows orlanes provided on the table, the endless belts being separated by therails 18. The endless belts 22 are operatively arranged on the shafts 24and 25 provided at each end of the table. These shafts are journailed insuitable bearing brackets 26 on each side of the table. In theembodiment illustrated in the drawings, the documents are fed onto theapparatus at the right side thereof as viewed in Figs. 1 and 2, and themechanism for driving the endless belts is arranged at the left side ofthe table.

For driving the endless belts, an electric motor 28 is provided, whichmay be clamped by means of suitable plates 30 to one of the legs I 2 ofthe table. The motor 28 is arranged to drive a sprocket 32 which may beconnected by means of a chain 34 to rotate a sprocket 36 mounted on theshaft 25. It will thus be seen that when the motor 28 is operated thesprocket 32 will drive the belt 34 turning the sprocket 36 and theroller 25 associated therewith.

It will be apparent that documents which are arrangement at the rightside of the apparatus will be carried by the endless belts towards theleft thereof, where, as will be described, the photographic record is tobe made. At a selected position in their travel, these documents will bephotographed and, therefore, we arrange a suitable camera, ofconventional type, above the table at such position so that it willphotograph all of the documents which come within its field when theshutter is snapped.

In order to secure the camera 40 in proper photographic relation to thetable and the documents thereon that are to be recorded on the film. weprefer to extend the supports II and I5 upwards to a suitable heightabove the table. These extended supports II are held firmly in positionagainst any undesirable relative movement by means of the rectangularframe 42 secured thereto at the upper ends of the supports whichtogether therewith form a housing for the camera. The camera may bearranged in operative position centrally of the frame and extendedsupports.

The camera 40 preferably is the 35 mm. type of commercial camera using acontinuous roll of film. We have found that by using a camera providedwith 35 mm. film a great many more documents can be photographed at onetime than is possible with the present commerical apparatus which employcameras using smaller than 35 mm. film. In actual practice, with one ofour apparata, we have photographed a total of 66 checks on a singleframe of film. of course, it will be understood that the lens used inthe camera will be suitable to providethe required detail character.

The camera 40 may be secured by any suitable means to one side of thebracket 44, the other side of the bracket 44 having a portion thereoffitting into a keyway 46 in a vertically-arranged arm 48. A set screwhaving the knob 50 is arranged on the arm 48 to secure the bracket inposition on the arm 48 and may be loosened to move the camera carryingbracket 44 i position thereon. The set screw'may be loosened to permitthe bracket and camera to be lowered on the arm so that access may bereadily had to the camera when desired, for example, to load it withfilm, adjust the shutter or the like.

The exact construction of this mechanism and similar mechanisms beingwell known in the art, the details thereof will not be furtherdescribed.

The vertical arm 48 may b formed integrally with or connected to ahorizontally L-shaped member 52, which extends onto theverticallydisposed rack 53, arranged for reciprocation adjacent one ofthe extended supports [3.

In order to provide means for raising or lowering the camera 40 to aidin focusing it upon the documents arranged on the table, any suitablemechanism, such as a gear train arranged within the collar 54, tooperatively engage the threaded portion of the rack, may be provided.

Such mechanism need not be illustrated in detail, since it will occur toanyone skilled in the art.

The collar 54 is secured to the support l5 and the rack 53 is arrangedto reciprocate within the collar.

A knob 56 is rotatably journalled on th collar 54 and operativelyengages the gear train so that upon corresponding rotation of the knob,the rack, and, therefore, the camera, are moved away from or toward thetable. It will be apparent that by selectively arranging the position ofthe camera with respect to the table, the field of the camera, that isits size, may be adjusted as desired so that one or any greater numberof rows or documents may be photographed, as desired.

In order to furnish the light necessary for the taking of thephotographs, we prefer to arrange the light 58 at each side of thecamera housing and below the camera and outside the field thereof,preferably placing such lights outside of the area bounded by the foursupports II and I forming the camera housing. The lights may be carriedby the rectangular frame 50, each side of which has arranged on it alight-encasing hood 6|, which directs and concentrates the light raystoward and upon the documents to be photographed. We. prefer to usefluorescent lights. thou h an other well known type of light may beused.

The frame 60 is secured at each corner thereof by an arm 63 to a collar85 which is slidably arranged on the support adjacent thereto. The

' collars 65 are slidable on the supports to which they are so securedso that their position above the documents may be selectively adjustedfor suitable lighting conditions.

In the modifications herein described, we prefer to have the tripping ofthe camera shutter accomplished automatically after the endless belt hasmoved a predetermined distance. purpose, we provide on the shaft 25preferably adjacent gear 36 a small gear 62 which drives the larger gear64 meshing therewith. The larger gear 64 has a stud 66 projectingtherefrom at right angles to the side face thereof. There is arranged inthe path of the stud 66 a finger 68 hav ing the end thereof beveled.Upon rotation of the gear 64, the stud 66 will engage the finger 68moving it down a selected distance. Upon continued rotation of the gear,the stud will be disengaged from the finger, the beveled end thereofenabling it to readily slide off the finger. The finger 68 is carried onand may be secured to or formed integrally with the collar 10. Thecollar 10 i arranged around the cord or wire I2 and may be securedthereto by means of a thumb screw 14 passing through said collar andfrictionally engaging the wire I2. The thumb screw 14 may be loosened topermit the wire to pass freely through collar I0 when it is desired tochange, for any reason, the relative position of the camera with respectto the table. The wire 12 is arranged, as will be described, to trip thecamera shutter and move the film in the camera to successive frames orphotographic positions.

The upper part of the collar 10 is provided with a squared key 16 whichis arranged for. movement in a corresponding square opening in thebracket member 18 extending from a collar 19 secured to or integral withone of the supports 15.

Such arrangement will prevent rotation of the collar HI and the wire 12upon its operative motion.

The wire 12 is passed around a pulley 80 arranged on a bracket 82extending from the top of one of the supports IS, the end of the wire 12being connected to the arm 84 of the camera shutter tripping mechanism.

It will be apparent that the rotation of the gear wheel upon operativemovement of the endless belts will, upon each rotationof the gear, causethe stud 56 toengage and move the finger 88 and collar 10 downwardly.Such movement will operatively actuate the tripping arm 84 to trip theshutter of the camera. Only a slight For this movement or pull on thewire 12 will be sufilcient to trip the shutter and further movementthereof is used to move the film in the camera forward to the nextpicture frame for exposure. For this reason, we prefer to have the wireI! cross over and frictionally engage the roller 86, which may bearranged on the conventionai'film feed mechanism found in the commercialcamera and which roller 88, when turned, will, therefore, advance thefilm.

It will be recognized, that by reason of the fact that only a slightpull on the wire will trip the shutter, a photographic record of thedocuments will be made on the film before it is advanced by the furthermovement downwardly of the collar and wire.

The camera shutter mechanism ma itself return the wire, collar andfinger to their normal position after the stud disengages itself fromthe finger, or any other conventional means, such as making the wire orrope I! flexible or arranging a compression spring between the collar 12and the bracket in which it moves, may be provided. Such means willoccur to anyone skilled in the art and need not be further described indetail.

It will be understood that the movement of the belts is made relativelyslow so that the photographic record will not be blurred and that itwill have the effect of a still picture.

The tripping mechanism is arranged to snap the shutter momentarily afterthe belts have been moved completely through the length of the camerafield, which is from position A to B. When the belts are momentarily inthe field of the camera and the shutter tripped, all of the documents,for example checks, arranged on the belts, will be recorded on acorresponding film frame A-B'.

The length of belts from C to A will continue to move until it isentirely within the field of the camera, at which position the gear willhave completed one revolution to bring the stud 66 into engagement withthe finger 68 to snap the next film frame CA'.

It will be-understood that after the exposure of the frame A'-B', thecollar Ill and wire 12 are adjusted so that continued downward movementthereof will just advance the film frame C'A into the successivephotographic position in the camera.

It will be understood that the ratio of gear 62 to gear 64 must berelatively fixed so that the belts will be moved an equal distance foreach rotation of the gear 64. The ratio used in practice is dependentupon the photographic field and will vary with the number of rows andsize of documents to be photographed.

I It will be understood that the documents, for example checks 85,- willnot be fed uniformly on the belts in relative side by side alignment.Each picture frame will, therefore, not be a uniform record of thedocuments, which will be recorded thereon in a haphazard arrangement asillustrated in Fig. 5. At any event, any partial photograph found on anyframe will match with the corresponding partial photograph record on thepreceding or succeeding film frame.

It will at 'once be apparent that a relatively large number ofdocuments, such as checks, can be photographed at one time at eachexposure.

After the documents have been fed onto the table I in their assortedarrangement, they are ceiving cabinet 88 having a plurality ofcompartment 90 equal in number to the number of lanes on the table Ill.To maintain the documents as they are discharged from the endless beltsin their relative arrangement, we prefer to provide a receiving board 32adjacent the end of the table, the receiving board 92 slanting downwardat an angle of substantially 45 degrees and having arranged thereonguide rails 94 equal in number to the number of rails on the table ID.the guide rails 94 being aligned with rails l8 forming a downward anglethereto. It is to be noted that the guide rails 94 do not run all theway up to the end of the receiving board 92 immediately adjacent the endof the table I0. It has been found in actual practice that by shorteningthe length of the guide rails 84 the documents, as they pass from theend of the table, will be caught by the top edge of the guide rails 94not at the end of the said documents but more toward the middle, and,therefore, more toward the position which is likely to be in properalignment on the endless belt. If thes guide rails 94 are extended so asto be immediately adjacent the table, it has been found that they tendto catch the edges of the documents as they are discharged off the endof the table and to throw them into disarrangement in the cabinet. Ithas also been found that the bottom 95 of the compartment 92 if alsoslanted downward will help to maintain the documents in their assortedarrangement.

Referring now to Figs. 6 and 7, a different embodiment of the presentinvention is there illustrated wherein the documents will be assorted inthe camera field in a uniformly aligned arrangement. In this embodiment,two tables 98 and I00 are provided, table 98 being smaller than theother table. Both tables are provided with rails to form on each aplurality of corresponding lanes, such as those illustrated in Fig. 1.Each such lane is adapted to receive one document at a time. Thedocuments are fed onto the receiving table 98 and are moved thereontoward the table I00 by means of an endless belt I 02 arranged aroundthe rollers I04 provided at each end of table 98'. One of the rollersI04 is provided with a. sprocket I06 which may be driven by means of thechain I88, which latter is in turn connected with the driving gear H0.This driving gear H0 is secured to the shaft I II to which the largersprocket II 2 is also secured. The sprocket H2 is driven by the chain H4and sprocket IIS which itself is driven by the electric motor H8. Itwill be apparent that when the apparatus is in operation and the motorH8 is running, the belt I02 will be in continual motion. Thus, if anydocument is deposited on table 98, it is immediately moved along thattable to the end thereof.

The document-advancing table IIIII is provided with an endless-\belt ineach separate row, similar to table III of Fig. 1. The means forselectively operating these belts will now be described.

Between the document-advancing table and the document-receiving tableand above them,-

we arrange adjacent each row an exciter lamp I20, which directs lightrays upon a corresponding conventional photo-electric cell I22.

It will be apparent that as a document is transferred from thedocument-receiving table 38 to the document-advancing table I80, it mustpass between the lamp and cell and, therefore, intercent the beam oflight emitted from the lamp. The interception of the beam of lightbetween thereagainst by the relay actuated arm I28.

the exciter lamp I20 and the photo-electric cell I22 is arranged toactuate a, conventional relay to cause the endless belt I24 on table I"adjacent the corresponding lamp and all the documents to move toward thecamera, as will be hereinafter described. This belt will continue tomove so long as the beam of light is intercepted by a lamp and the cell.Upon a document being passed by the lamp, the beam of light will againbe directed on the cell to thereby cause the relay to resume itsoriginal position and stop forward movement of the endless belt.

The mechanism for accomplishing this operation is diagrammaticallyillustrated in Fig. 7. Referring to that figure, the wires from thephotoelectric cell I22 are connected to a conventional relay mechanismI26 which actuates the arm I23 arranged on the pivot I38, the end of thelever I28 opposite the end within the relay being arranged within achannel I32 in the clutch member I34. The clutch member I34 fits aboutthe shaft III, to which it is keyed so that it will rotate with it, asheretofore described, the shaft I II continually rotates so long as themotor III is operated. The clutch member I34 is keyed to the shaft in aconventional manner so that it is adapted to slide on the shaft intofrictional engagement with the sleeve I38. The friction sleeve I38 fitsloosely around the shaft III and, therefore, normally does not rotatetherewith. In order to cause rotation of the sleeve I38, the inwardlytapered friction face I36 thereof is moved into engagement with thecorrespondingly tapered friction cone I31 of the sleeve and held Securedto or integral with the sleeve I33 is the driving drum I 40 about whichthe endless belt I24 is arranged so that upon rotation of the drum theendless belt I24 will move therewith.

From the foregoing description, it will, therefore, be seen that when adocument is placed on the table 98 on the continually moving belt I32,the document will be moved forward until it breaks the beam of lightbetween the exciter lamp I20 and the photo-electric cell I22. Thephotoelectric cell I 22 thereupon acts within the relay I25 in a mannerwell known in the art and which, therefore, will not be described, tomove the lever I28 so that the clutch member I34 engages the sleeve I 38and thereby rotates the drum I43 to move the endless belt I24. Theendless belt I24 will continue to move until the document has passed thepoint at which it intercepts the beam, whereupon the beam will berestored and the photo-electric cell will then react upon the relay soas to cause the arm I28 to return to its original position so as todisengage the clutch member I34 from the sleeve I38, thereby causing thedrum I48 to cease turning and the belt I24 to cease advancing. Theplacing of another document upon endless belt I02 will repeat the sameoperation and the document originally placed thereon will be advancedfurther ahead.

It is, of course, understood that there are as many endless belts I24 asthere are to be rows, each lane having its own photo-electric cell andexciter lamp as well as relay and clutch mechanism. It will be apparentthat with such mechanism the documents in each row will be relativelyaligned when they reach the field of the camera.

If desired, automatic means for successively and continuously feeding inselected assortment the documents onto our photographic apparatus may beprovided to thereby eliminate manually feeding the documents singlyintov each row or lane.

Where manual feeding of the documents onto one of our apparata providedwith a large number of rows or lanes is performed, a comparatively largenumber of persons will be required, since only a relatively small numberof such rows or lanes can be attended by one person. In addition, insuch event space requirements may restrict the size of the apparatus,that is the number of rows or lanes may thereby be limited by the numberof operators who, within the space allotted, can be accommodated at thedocument entrance to the apparatus.

We have, therefore, provided means for arranging the documents inassorted bundles or piles, from which they are automatically,continuously and successively fed onto the apparatus from each bundle orpile in the selected assortment or'bundle or pile arrangement, therebyreducing to one the number of operators required to operate theapparatus and increasing the working size and rapidity of operationthereof.

Referring now particularly to Figs. 8 and 9, if desired, thedocument-feeding cabinet I42 from which the documents to be photographedare fed onto the apparatus may be arranged at the entrance to ourphotographic apparatus at the forward end of the assorting table I0. Wehave not shown the photographic apparatus in Fig. 8 in detail, it beingunderstood that the same apparatus illustrated in Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4and Just described in reference thereto is to be used in th modificationof our invention which we will now describe, it being useless repetitionto again illustrate and describe the same details of construction. Itwill be understood that our document-feeding means will have applicationto other suitable photographic apparatus of different construction.

The document-feeding cabinet I42 is provided .with a plurality ofcompartments I44, each one of such compartments corresponding to andbeing in alignment'with a row or lane formed by the spaced rails I8 onthe table I and each compartment having arranged thereon a bundle orpile of documents I48. Therefore, as will be apparent from our furtherdescription, a single check 85 will be fed from the pile or bundle I48in a compartment I44 of the cabinet I42 onto the endless belt 22 of acorresponding row or ane.

To operate the apparatus, the operator assorts the documents, beingchecks in the illustration concerned with herein, in piles or bundlescorresponding to the classification selected and arranges a pile orbundle I48 in each compartment I44 of the cabinet I42. The bundles I48of checks are arranged therein on their ends between the parallel wallsI48 which separate each compartment. Such walls correspond to and are inalignment with the rails I8 which form the row or lane into which thechecks from each bundle or pile are to be fed.

In order to operate the document-feeding means concurrently with thephotographic apparatus, we provide a driving sprocket I50 which issecured to the shaft 24 and is operatively connected by means of thechain I52 to rotate the driven sprocket 1 54 which is mounted on theshaft I58.

It will be apparent that the shaft 24 will be rotated by the operationof the endless belts under the action of an electric motor 28 (see Fig.1), to thereby cause corresponding rotation 01 theshaft I58.

the compartments between the walls I44 which form them..

The size of each compartment in relation to the position of the shaftI58 is such that the pile of checks gravitate forward at an angle sothat they rest against the friction roller I58.

As heretofore described, the shaft 24 is continuously rotated when thephotographic apparatus is in operation while the belts 22 in the rows orlanes are continuously moved. Similarly, so long as the machine is inoperation, the shaft I58 and friction roller I58 are continuously rotated, I

It will be apparent that the first check 85 of the pile or bundle I48,as it rests upon the friction roller I58, which rotates when the machineis operated, will be picked up by it from the pile or bundle and carriedupwardly from the compartment I44. In order to guide the document, whichis thus raised from the pile, onto the row or lane corresponding to thatcompartment, we provide for each compartment, adjacent the exit I51 ofthe cabinet and the entrance to the corresponding lane or row, adocumentguiding channel formed by the walls I80 and I52 which are inalignment respectively with the walls I48 and I48 of the compartment andpreferably secured thereto. It will be at once apparent that as thedocument 85 is fed upwardly from the pile, it must pass through thecontinuous passage thus formed by the walls I48 and I49 which are alsoin alignment with the walls I50 and I52 and the rails I8 forming the rowor lane corresponding to the compartment. The check,

which has sufllcient inherent rigidity, will be carried upwardly untilthe leading edge I84 thereof strikes the roof or shoe I88 arranged overthe guiding channel preferably integral with the walls I50 and I82.

As the document 85 is moved further by the friction roller I58, it willunder the influence of the preferably curved roof or shoe I88 bedirected onto the moving belt 22, the walls of the compartment and ofthe guiding channel cooperating with rails to prevent lateraldisplacement of the check as it is fed onto a belt 22.

We have found that in practice the friction roller I58 should be rotatedpreferably faster than the belt roller I88 so that the document 85 xwill be quickly picked up and rapidly moved into the channel against theshoe or roof I88. In actual practice, we have found that a ratio of fourto one for sprocket I50 and sprocket I54 is very satisfactory for theconventional size check.

It will be apparent that when the leading check 85 is raised upwardly,it will be carried forward by the endless belt 22 upon its being movedbeyond the influence of the friction roller I58. When the check 85leaves the friction roller it is carried forward in the row or lane bythe endless belt, when the next succeeding check I88 in the pile I48gravitates against and is frictionally engaged by the friction rollerI58 and moved upwardly between the walls I and I-82 of the channel untilit likewise is disposed on the endless belt 22, each succeeding checkautomatically successively and continuously following the same operationuntil the entire pile or bundle in the compartment is depleted.

It will be understood that the distance of the shaft I56 below theendless belt 22 will be such that there will not be an overlap of thesucceeding check I58 on the preceding check 85, but that it will fall onthe endless belt an extremely small distance behind the preceding check85. It will be also understood that the speed of rotation of thefriction roller I58 may also be varied with respect to the speed ofmovement of the endless belt 22 in relation to the relative spacing ofthese parts to provide such results.

It will be understood that the distance of the shaft I 56 from the rearwall I10 of the documentcontaining cabinet will be such as to disposethe pile of documents against the friction roller I56 at an angle ofsufficient magnitude to enable the leading check of the pile to beoperatively grasped thereby and that the distance of roof or shoe I64above the corresponding row or lane will depend on the size and type ofdocument being photographed. It Will be further understood that fordocuments of practically little or no inherent rigidity the roof or shoemay be dispensed with.

In order to insure that the last check I12 will cperatively fall and beheld against the friction roller I58, we prefer to arrange against thelast check of each pile a blank sheet such as the cardboard sheet I14.Such cardboard sheet will urge the last check of the pile I46 onto therubber roller to insure that it will be grasped thereby and fed onto thebelt 22 in the lane or row corresponding to the compartment I44.

As has been pointed out before, it will be understood that the cabinet!42 is provided with a plurality of compartments, each one of which isadjacent to and aligned with a corresponding row or lane on the table I0. It will, therefore, be apparent that before the apparatus is put inoperation, a pile of documents, for example checks, will be arranged ineach compartment to correspond to the row or rack in accordance with theindicia on the bar (see Fig. 1).

It will now be apparent that the checks from each pile are fed one at atime onto the corresponding row or lane in end to end successivearrangement in the selected relative arrangement or assortment. It willfurther be apparent that the documents or checks will be fed into eachrow or lane in uniform relative alignment as distinguished from thehaphazard relative alignment illustrated in Fig. 5.

The next operations, after the checks are thus automatically fed ontothe endless belts, will be exactly the same as those describedhereinbefore with reference to the apparatus of Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4.

A check from each compartment will be simultaneously fed onto an endlessbelt 22 in the row or lane corresponding to the compartment and thechecks thus fed onto the table III will be carried in their assortedarrangement to the field of the camera 40.

When a selected portion of the documents are in the field of the camera,the camera is snapped, a photographic record of the checks made and thefilm advanced to the next frame, all as heretofore described (Figs. 1,2, 3 and 4).

The checks will continue to be moved past the camera to the end of thetable II) where they may be discharged into a receiving cabinet 88 (seeFig. 1 and Fig. 2) in their relative assorted arrangement.

It will be apparent that our apparatus has photographed only one face ofeach check or document. Where it is desired to make a record of thereverse or back face of each check or document in a continuoussuccessive series of operations, we arrange a second document-feedingcabinet and associated apparatus in series with the first cabinet andapparatus (see Fig. 8) which we will now describe.

In describing the second-mentioned cabinet and apparatus, we will uselike reference characters for like parts, except that those referencecharacters relating to the second cabinet and apparatus will be primenumerals.

Referring now to Fig. 8, we provide a second photographic apparatushaving a second table I0 which may be arranged in series with the firsttable I0. Such apparatus is not illustrated, since it will be in allrespects similar to that heretofore described with reference to Figs. 1,2, 3 and 4 to which reference should be made. It will be understood thatthe documents fed thereon will be moved in their assorted arrangement inrows or lanes to within the field of the camera 40 thereon anddischarged therefrom into a cabinet 88.

The table I0 is likewise provided with a document-feeding cabinet I42having compartments each corresponding to and in alignment with a row orlane provided on the table III, the number of rows or lanes on table I0corresponding to the number of rows or lanes on table III.

The cabinet I42 is provided with the document-feeding means I58heretofore described (see Fig. 9).

Each compartment of the cabinet I42 is likewise aligned with acorresponding row or lane on the table I 0 so that as a document isdischarged therefrom it will be received into a compartment there to befed onto a corresponding lane in the table III of the second apparatus.

To maintain the documents as they are discharged from the endless beltsof table III in their relative arrangement, we prefer to provide areceiving board I15 adjacent the discharge end of the table ID, thereceiving board I16 slanting.

downwardly at an angle of substantially fortyfive degrees and havingarranged thereon guide rails equal in number to the number of guiderails I8 on the table I0, the guide rails being aligned with the railsand forming a downward angle thereto.

Such guide rails are not shown in detail since they will be similar inconstruction to the guide rails 94 of the receiving board 92 of thecabinet 88 illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2.

At the commencement of operation of the apparatus, in order to insurethat the checks, as they are received from the table ll are operativelydisposed against the friction rollers of the document-feeding means I58,one or two blank sheets I18 are arranged in each compartment of thecabinet I42 against the document-feeding means I58. As a check isdischarged from the table In onto the receiving board I14, it will slidedownwardly against the blanks I15 and will gravitate into the respectivecompartments and lie against the blanks I16 in proper angularrelationship to the document-feeding means I58.

We prefer to arrange the end I of the receiving board 214 slightly inadvance of the rear edge of the blanks I15 so that any check as it isdischarged from the receiving board will strike the pile of checks inthe cabinet I42 in such manner as to cause it to fall over in properangular position against the blanks H6 or a check previously dischargedtherein.

It will be apparent that the checks in the cabinet I42 will be fed, inthe manner heretofore described with respect to cabinet I42 (see Fig.9), onto the table it of the second apparatus with the reverse facethereof upward in position to be photographed as heretofore describedwith respect to Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4. It will be further apparent that inthis way we have provided a photographic apparatus which willautomatically feed the assorted checks in their assorted arrangementinto a photographic apparatus, move such checks into the field of thecamera where photographic records thereof are made, move the checkswhich have been photographed out of the field of the camera into acabinet in their assorted arrangement in such position that they will befed from that cabinet onto a second apparatus with the reverse faces ofthe checks in position to be photographed, then moved into the field ofa second camera wherethe reverse sides of the checks will bephotographed, then moved from the field of the second camera anddischarged from the apparatus into a receiving cabinet in their assortedarrangement, all of these operations being automatic and continuous.

While the specific details have been herein shown and described, theinvention is not confined thereto as changes and alterations may be madewithout departing from the spirit thereof as defined in the appendedclaims.

We claim:

1. A document sorting and photographing apparatus comprising, incombination, a table, a plurality of movable endless belts arranged onsaid table, each adapted to receive documents to be photographed, aplurality of guide rails arranged between the endless belts forminglanes for receiving different classes of said documents, mechanism formoving the endless r belts, a

camera arranged above said table so as to include the width of the tableand a substantial portion of its length within the camera field, saiddocuments received in said lanes being advanced on the table by theendless belts to the field of said camera, a lever on said camera fortripping the shutter thereof to expose a film and make a photographicrecord of the documents advanced to the field of the camera, a roller onsaid camera for advancing the film therein, a rotating member arrangedadjacent the table, said rotating member being connected with, andadapted to be rotated by the mechanism for moving the endless belts, astud projecting from said rotating member and movable therewith, afinger having a beveled end arranged in the path of movement of the studand adapted to be moved thereby, a wire having one end thereof securedto the shutter of the camera and passing around and frictionailyengaging the film advancing roll er of the camera, said wire beingsecured to the finger and moving therewith, movement of said wireserving to trip the shutter and move the film-advancing roller toadvance the film in the camera into position for a succeeding exposure.

2. A document sorting and photographing apparatus comprising incombination a table, a plurality of endless belts arranged on saidtable, each adapted to receive documents to be photographed, a pluralityof guide rails arranged between the endless belts to form lanes forreceiving different classes of said documents, mechanism for moving theendless belts, a camera arranged above said'table so as to includethewidth of the table and a substantial portion of its length within thecamera field, said endless belts being adapted to move the documents towithin the field of the camera, means, associated with the mechanism formoving the endless beltsffor operating the camera and advancing the filmtherein, a cabinet arranged adjacent an end of the table and adapted toreceive documents upon their discharge off the end of the table bymovement of the endless belts, said cabinet being divided into aplurality of compartments equal in number to the number of lanes, acompartment being in alignment with a lane, and a receiving memberintermediate the end of the table and the cabinet, said member havingrails thereon aligned with the rails on the table, said receiving memberslanting downward at an angle to the table, said rails beginning at asubstantial distance from the end of the receiving member adjacent thetable. I

3. A document sorting and photographing apparatus comprising, incombination, a table, a plurality of endless belts arranged on saidtable and adapted to receive thereon documents to be photographed, aplurality of spaced guide rails arranged between the endless belts toform lanes for receiving different classes of said documents, mechanismfor moving the endless belts, a camera arranged above said table, alever on said camera for tripping the shutter thereof to expose a film,a roller on said camera for advancing the film therein, a rotatingmember arranged adjacent the table, said rotating member being connectedwith and adapted to be rotated by the mechanism for moving the endlessbelts, a stud projecting from said rotating member, a finger having abeveled end'arranged in the path of the stud, said finger being adaptedto be moved a selected distance by the stud, said stud sliding past thebeveled edge oi the finger after the finger has been moved the selecteddistance, a collar having the aforesaid finger arranged thereon, aflexible wire having one end thereof secured to the shutter-actuatinglever of the camera and passing around and frictlonally engaging thefilm-advancing roller of the camera, said wire passing through saidcollar, a bolt on said collar adapted to be tightened to secure the wireto the collarso that the wire moves therewith, a squared guide securedto the wire, a member secured to the table and having a squared openingtherein through which said guide passes.

SAMUEL GORAD. PHILIP F. JACOBS.

